President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov commented to Kabar news agency on the purchase of apartments and offices for employees of embassies and representative offices of Kyrgyzstan abroad.
According to the head of state, rented offices and apartments, in which employees of diplomatic missions live, create a burden on the budget.
«For example, we have a representative office to the UN in New York. Our representative has been renting an apartment there for 30 years, for which we pay $5,000 a month. Imagine how much money has been spent for 30 years. An amount equivalent to the cost of four apartments has been spent on one representative. If we had bought the property right away, it would have paid for itself in 10 years and would have remained the property of the state forever,» Sadyr Japarov said.
He noted that the previous ministers should have thought about this.
«We believe that it is not too late now, and we are buying apartments for all our ambassadors, consuls and employees abroad. We have embassies in 30 countries, consulates in 11 countries and a mission to the UN. Each embassy has at least 6-7 employees. Each of them rents an apartment, which is paid for from the state budget. Therefore, if we buy apartments and offices once, they will forever remain the property of the state,» the president added.
Sadyr Japarov emphasized that there are own offices only in three countries. One of them is in Berlin. It was purchased on the initiative of Apas Dzhumagulov. The second one is in Brussels, purchased on the initiative of Chingiz Aitmatov. The third is in Moscow.
«We rent premises in the rest of the countries. Two years ago I instructed the ministry to buy apartments and offices for all missions. The work continues. We are buying office space and apartments,» the head of state concluded.
Sadyr Japarov, while being on a working visit to Paris, visited the new building of the Embassy of Kyrgyzstan in France. There he reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic has already purchased a building in Hungary and is working on purchase of real estate in Switzerland, Austria and Novosibirsk (Russia). Official apartments for employees of diplomatic missions will be purchased in New York (USA) and Berlin (Germany).
